The present invention relates generally to communication and navigational devices, and more particularly to the control and display of communication and navigational devices within an avionics system.
A pilot""s awareness and coordination of various aircraft modes and conditions is often critical to optimum aircraft performance and safety. For example, the pilot requires awareness of the aircraft""s automation state to easily coordinate the flight modes. Moreover, the pilot should be able to easily view and coordinate the tracking of the aircraft to current modes and targets. The pilot and co-pilot should also be able to easily control all communication and navigational radios on the aircraft regardless of the flight mode However, existing cockpit controls, which may be of the panel-mounted variety or of the head up display (HUD) variety and which may be commonly found in commercial, military, and civilian aircraft, include various systems distributed throughout the cockpit, thereby often requiring the pilot to intermittently scan various areas of the cockpit to obtain and analyze the aircraft information. Moreover, various communication controls may be spaced throughout the cockpit, which may require the pilot and the co-pilot to reach into each other""s immediate space in order to modify or select the controls. The current arrangement of such controls throughout the cockpit does not allow the pilots to fly the aircraft as efficiently as possible.
To assist the pilot, aircraft flight displays continue advancing, achieving increasingly higher levels of information density and, consequently, presenting a greater amount of visual information for the operator. In many applications, it is often important that visual displays provide a proper cognitive mapping between what the operator is trying to achieve and the information available to accomplish the task. As a result, such systems increasingly utilize human-factor design principles in order to build instrumentation and controls that work cooperatively with human operators.
Accordingly, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has promulgated a number of standards and advisory circulars relating to flight instrumentation. More particularly, Title 14 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 25, Sec. 25.1321 et seq. provides guidelines for arrangement and visibility of instruments, warning lights, annunciators, and the like. Similarly, detailed guidelines related to electronic displays can be found in FAA Advisory Circular 20-88A, Guidelines on the Marking of Aircraft Powerplant Instruments (Sep. 1985), both of which are incorporated by reference.
Typical communication and navigation radios used today are manually intensive to control. For example, a typical communication radio within an aircraft includes a plurality of buttons, flip switches and/or rotatable tuning knobs. The rotatable tuning knobs control the particular frequency the radio is transmitting and receiving. If the vehicle""s operator desired to change the frequency, the tuning knobs must be rotated. If the frequency shift is large, the operator is required to continually rotate the knobs until the desired frequency is achieved. This can be a cumbersome chore. This problem is exacerbated when there are multiple communication radios and navigation radios throughout the cockpit. Communication and navigation radios are typically located in the upper portion of the flight deck outside of the pilot""s primary scanning view but within arms reach. The placement of these radios further takes the pilot""s attention away from his primary duty to operate the aircraft. Consequently, the reaction time associated with adjusting the characteristics of each radio throughout the cockpit may potentially affect the safe operation of the vehicle.
What is needed is a system for controlling and displaying communication devices and navigational devices, and storing information relating to such devices in an easy and efficient manner which allows the vehicle""s operator to concentrate on the primary task of operating the vehicle.
The present invention is, in one embodiment, a system and method for graphically controlling a communication device and displaying its characteristics on a display within a vehicle including a microprocessor, a communication and navigation information window within a portion of the display, the window being generated by and in communication with the microprocessor, at least one radio in communication with and controlled by the microprocessor, a data input means in communication with the microprocessor and at least one communication and navigation information database in communication with the microprocessor. An aircraft operator provides input to a cursor control device and receives visual feedback via a display produced by a monitor. The display includes various graphical elements associated with each radio""s characteristics. Through the use of the cursor control device, the operator may modify the radio""s characteristics and/or other such indicia graphically in accordance with feedback provided by the display.
The novel features of the present invention will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon examination of the following detailed description of the invention or can be learned by practice of the present invention. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description of the invention and the specific examples presented, while indicating certain embodiments of the present invention, are provided for illustration purposes only because various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those of skill in the art from the detailed description of the invention and claims that follow.